Ice Cream Wars: The Real Scoop

The moniker-makers who dream up ice cream flavor names might call it the Chocolate Gauntlet or the Gooey Glove.

Ice cream dipping stores were once the bailiwick of the corner soda fountain, but in recent years the business has evolved into a battle royal

--that`s a description, not a flavor.

Two years ago, food-industry behemoth Pillsbury Co. bought Haagen-Dazs, the super-premium leader. Then tiny Frusen Gladje was bought last month by another food-industry goliath, Dart & Kraft Inc. A few days later, dipping-store leader Baskin-Robbins, with 2,591 stores nationally and 3,143 stores worldwide, found its own heavyweight bodyguard, Coca-Cola, and hooked up with it.

The gauntlet that the brass at Baskin-Robbins have thrown down at Haagen-Dazs is just the latest joust among the ice cream combatants.

``The ice cream industry watches us so they pick off the successful flavors,`` said Ronald Marley, president of Glendale, Calif.-based Baskin-Robbins. ``When we see one of our trademark names being used, we send out

`cease and desist` letters. The franchise owners depend on us to defend these names.``

In addition, Baskin-Robbins announced last month it is spending an estimated $20 million to broaden its appeal from children to include more adults, particularly that prized adult--the young urban professional.

Yup. Gone will be the bright pink and white decor and in will come earth tones to appeal to the well-to-do young professional market. Also last month, Baskin-Robbins announced it had signed an agreement with Coca-Cola USA to sell its products in the Baskin-Robbins franchises.

In town recently to spread the gospel to franchisees, Marley took a few swipes at the competition. ``Some people in the industry are making claims that they are all natural, when it just isn`t so. All of our products are either all natural or mostly natural. Some people think that if it tastes so good, it must be loaded with ingredients that aren`t good for them. There are no preservatives in ice cream; you freeze ice cream. Some of the strange names frighten people,`` he explained.

But Marley doesn`t want to frighten anyone.

``The current trend is for consumers to want to know what they are eating, what`s in the product. Because so many people are making a big thing of it, we are putting together a booklet to explain to the franchisees. There are 30,000 youngsters working in those stores, and this would allow them to answer customers` questions,`` he said.

Flavors such as chocolate and jamoca are all-natural, but you may need a shot of insulin just to read the names. Marley would also like to debunk the notion that ice cream is so fattening.

``Pralines `N Cream has about 180 calories in a 2 1/2-ounce scoop. We did a market survey in the Chicago area and found that the average consumer thought that a scoop was about 350 to 400 calories,`` he said.

``We noticed the aging trend, where there is a greater percentage of the populace growing older, and (they) have a concern about cholesterol levels. So we have a line to meet their dietary needs. So grandparents will come in and find reduced-butterfat ice cream. Parents might be concerned about additives and pick the all-natural. Children might want Rocky Road,`` he said.

The super-premium market began taking off about five years ago and has been steadily increasing its share of the ice cream market. The price no longer scares the customer.

The market share of the super-premium has been growing yearly since 1981 but still constitutes only about 7 percent of the total market, according to Tobi Rozen, an executive assistant in marketing for the International Association of Ice Cream Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group with 280 members.

``The growth rate for ice cream in general has been about 3 to 4 percent, but sales have been rising at about 10 percent, thanks to the rate of growth of the super-premiums,`` she said. Rozen said that the industry has no hard definition of what constitutes a super-premium.

Most industry sources agree that super-premium is based mostly on price.

``It had been attempted before to come up with the extremely expensive product. But it began to take off in the latter part of 1979 and was tied in with the trend toward upscale buying, the designer jeans. The smart shopper said, `I`ll shop where an intelligent person like me would be seen,` `` Marley said.

Expensive indeed. The person who double parks his BMW in front of the Haagen-Dazs at 70 E. Oak St. will have to scoop over up to $3.40 a pint for some flavors. For four gallons, you could fly to the West Coast.